The legislation will not likely be upheld in court should it ultimately become law, but that hasn’t stopped legislators in North Dakota from pushing the measure as a possible test case in an attempt to overturn Roe.

The North Dakota Family Alliance Action, a pro-life group, strongly supported the Heartbeat Bill, HB 1456.

“The purpose of HB 1456 is quite simple, prohibiting an abortion if the unborn child the pregnant woman is carrying has a detectable heartbeat,” the group told LifeNews before the vote. “We all know the significance of a beating heart. We may have witnessed the loss of a loved one being cared for in a hospital, one moment hearing the presence of the heartbeat via the heart monitoring machine, the next moment experiencing the deafening silence of a heart beating no more. The heartbeat offers an undeniable truth about life.”

“The government is to secure these rights, the right of life,” the group added. “That is where our legislature will be on Friday. They have the opportunity to carry out the obligations as laid out by our Founding Fathers–to protect life, as witnessed by a beating heart.”

“HB 1456 secures life, protects life. Just as we protect life, a living being, until that heart stops beating, no matter the age, we must afford that same protection when that heartbeat becomes detectable in the unborn,” it continued. “This issue of abortion may become complex at times, and obviously has for many years-as we have witnessed the discussion and debate. But the issue becomes very simple, if we go back to a very foundational truth-that we as a people, as a government, are to secure and protect the right of life.”

Some pro-life groups are not supporting the bill because they say it will head to the Supreme Court, which will strike it down and add to the pro-Roe v. Wade case law upholding unlimited abortions. Knowing that, they say a better strategy is supporting pro-life Senate candidates and electing a pro-life president — paving the way for new Supreme Court justices who could overturn Roe or uphold such an amendment.

Approval of the bill follows on the heels of the Arkansas state House completing the override of Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe that gives the state the strongest pro-life law on the books in the nation. The measure bans abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, though it won’t take effect until this summer and will probably be stopped in court.